Critiquing an Article

APA Citation Helper Click a topic to go there. Purpose ..................................................................................................................................................... 2

Understanding Citations and References ................................................................................................ 2

Creating APA-Style In-Text Citations ....................................................................................................... 3

Direct Quotations ............................................................................................................................. 3

Paraphrasing .................................................................................................................................... 4

Summarizing .................................................................................................................................... 4

Formatting References ............................................................................................................................. 5

Making a Hanging Indent in Microsoft Word .................................................................................. 5

Reference Formatting Tips ............................................................................................................... 5

Citing Sources in Discussion Posts ................................................................................................... 6

Citing Sources in Presentation Software.......................................................................................... 6

Citing Sources in Oral Presentations ................................................................................................ 6

APA-Style Reference Examples ................................................................................................................ 7

Electronic Books (e-Books) .............................................................................................................. 7

Books (print)..................................................................................................................................... 8

Articles in Journals and Magazines (Online) .................................................................................. 10

Articles in Journals and Magazines (Print). .................................................................................... 11

Web Articles ................................................................................................................................... 12

Online Course Content ................................................................................................................... 13

Dissertations .................................................................................................................................. 14

Papers Presented at Conferences .................................................................................................. 15

Reports ........................................................................................................................................... 15

Presentations ................................................................................................................................. 16

Citing and Referencing Sacred and Classical Works ...................................................................... 17

Frequently Asked Questions .................................................................................................................. 20

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Purpose When you use the words or ideas of others, or state facts that are not common knowledge, you must give credit to the source of the information in order to give your reader the means to examine the information's context. You do this by citing your sources and providing references so the reader can find them. The purpose of this document is to provide you with basic guidelines and examples for citing a wide variety of sources using APA style. This resource will help clarify the relationship between APA style in-text citations and references while providing an assortment of examples from the types of resources you are likely to encounter during your academic career. This by no means covers every situation and nuance of preparing a manuscript but should provide essential basic information. The final authority for APA style remains the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th Edition. Additional resources can be found at their website, http://www.apastyle.org/.

Understanding Citations and References When using APA style, you attribute words or ideas to their original author in two steps.

1) The in-text citation appears in the body of your writing and provides a signal to the reader that you are influenced by the words, ideas, or facts presented by another author.

2) The in-text citation points to a more detailed reference included on the References page located at the end of your paper or document. This reference provides the necessary information for the reader to locate the resource.

MY PAPER ABOUT SURVIVING COLLEGE 10

References

Doe, J. (2014). Citing sources: Finding a way to cut through the confusion.

The Journal of Exceptional Instruction, 8(4), 78.

MY PAPER ABOUT SURVIVING COLLEGE 2

My Paper about Surviving College

World-renowned author and professor Ludwig von Eghead once confessed: “The most traumatic element of my college education was trying to figure out how to correctly cite my sources” (Doe, 2014, p. 78). If an eminent academic like von Eghead can be intimidated by citing sources, imagine

The in-text citation points to its associated reference on the References page.

Throughout your paper, you may have several in-text citations that refer to the same resource. You do not need to include multiple references for the same source on the References page.

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Creating APA-Style In-Text Citations There are several ways to create in-text citations depending on how you write the words and ideas of another author in your paper. Whatever form your citation takes, you will want to include author, date, and sometimes place. This means, the author’s last name, the year the work was published, and in many instances the page, paragraph, or chapter where it can be found.

Direct Quotations While direct quotations should generally be avoided, there are times when they are necessary. When a quotation is fewer than 40 words, it can appear within a normal paragraph.

Quotation with a Signal Phrase

Often the best approach is to alert the reader with a signal phrase to introduce a quotation.

It is good to heed the advice of Tolkien (1937) when he said, “Never laugh at live dragons” (p. 243).

Signal phrase including author’s last name Date of publication

Page in book quotation is found

Quotation without a Signal Phrase

The in-text citation without the signal phrase for the same quotation might look like this:

When confronted with a superior force, the wise course is to “never laugh at live dragons” (Tolkien, 1937, p. 243).

PlaceAuthor, Date,

Quotation from a Secondary Source

You may want to use a quotation, such as one from a historical figure that is found in another (secondary) source.

DEFINING THE WALL 10

References

Koch, A., & Peden, W. (Eds.). (1944). The life and selected writings of

In an 1802 letter to a committee of the Danbury Baptist Association, Jefferson expressed his thoughts regarding the role of government toward religion and coined the phrase, “a wall of separation between Church and State” (as cited in Koch & Peden, 1944, p. 332).

Thomas Jefferson. New York, NY: The Modern Family Library.

authors in the in-text citation.

Notice that Koch & Peden are the editors of a book that is a collection of Jefferson’s writings.

Editors

When quoting a person who is also being quoted in your source, include “as cited in” before the

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Block Quotations

When a quotation is longer than 40 words, it is set off from a normal paragraph using an indented block quotation.

President Jefferson expressed his understanding of the First Amendment to the US Constitution regarding the role of government toward religion in an 1802 letter to a committee of the Danbury Baptist Association:

I contemplate with sovereign reverence that act of the whole American people which declared that their legislature should “make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof,” thus building a wall of separation between Church and State. (as cited in Koch & Peden, 1944, p. 332)

That wall of separation has been subject to various interpretations in modern

Block Quotation • 40 words or more • Indent ½ inch • No quotation marks

(Here they are used to show Jefferson’s quotation of First Amendment text)

• Citation included in block.

Paraphrasing It is almost always better in academic writing to put the ideas of another author in your own words in order to improve the flow of your paper and to show that you have synthesized the material in your own mind. Because you are still borrowing ideas from another, you must use an in-text citation in conjunction with a reference.

In an 1802 letter to a committee of constituents in Connecticut, President Jefferson demonstrated that the wording of the First Amendment clearly prohibits the Federal government from either officially institutionalizing a particular religion or interfering with the practice of any religion (Koch & Peden, 1944).

No page number needed for paraphrased or summarized material.

Summarizing

When you summarize a substantial section of a text, you write one or two paragraphs to convey the author’s main points. Remember, you are creating a condensed version of what the author has said. Therefore, a summary, unlike a paraphrase, should be much shorter than the original. Use an in-text citation in a summarization as you would in a paraphrase.

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Formatting References The format for creating an APA style reference on your References page follows a general pattern which includes punctuation and the use of italics. There are nuances to creating references depending on where you find the information, be it a book, a journal, a website, etc. On the following page, you will see examples of references for the types of resources you are likely to encounter in the academic setting. You can see some of the features of an APA reference in the example below of a book with one author.

MacGillicuddy, J. (2014). Writing extraordinary research papers.

Pittsburgh, PA: Universal Press.

Publisher

Title of book in italics and sentence case (meaning only capitalize the first word and proper nouns, as well as the first word after colons, em dashes, and terminal punctuation ).

(Year) published. Author’s last name, First initial.

Hanging Indent City, State

Published:

(or country if not in U.S.)

Double Space

Making a Hanging Indent in Microsoft Word References that stretch to two lines require a hanging indent.

• Set your cursor anywhere within the reference. • Move the arrow pointer over the Hanging Indent sliding marker on the ruler at the top of the

page. Click and drag it to the right ½ inch.

• You can also use the Paragraph dialog box in Microsoft (MS) Word (Paragraph > Indents and Spacing > Indentation > Special > Hanging > By > 0.5") to create the hanging indent.

Reference Formatting Tips • Like the rest of your APA-style paper, references should be double spaced. • Use 12 point, Times New Roman font. • Remember, the goal is for a reader to be able to find your sources of information.

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Citing Sources in Discussion Posts Many of your assignments take the form of posts to discussion threads. Even though discussion threads may tend to be a little less formal than papers you submit, citing sources is still an essential element of avoiding plagiarism and maximizing your grade. The difference between citing sources in a paper versus a discussion response is that in a discussion, you will put your reference at the bottom of your post.

World-renowned author and professor Ludwig von Eghead once confessed: “The most traumatic element of my college education was trying to figure out how to correctly cite my sources” (Doe, 2014, p. 78). If an eminent academic like von Eghead can be intimidated by citing sources, imagine the trepidation the rest of us feel when confronted with this aspect of our research assignments.

The in-text citation points to its associated reference at the bottom of a discussion post.

Reference: Doe, J. (2014). Citing sources: Finding a way to cut through the confusion. The Journal of Exceptional Instruction, 8(4), 78.

Quoting & Paraphrasing

Normally, a properly formatted reference will have a hanging indent, but since this can be problematic in the Discussion Area, it is not required for discussion posts.

Citing Sources in Presentation Software Some assignments may require you to create a Microsoft PowerPoint presentation or other type of media. The formatting of in-text citations in the text content or under media on a slide remains the same as in other written materials. Placement of the full references, however, can vary from the bottom of a page to a separate page at the end. Adding full references at the bottom of a slide might make the slide too crowded. In that case, you would add a separate References slide(s) at the end of the presentation. Be sure to verify instructions for placing references before submitting an assignment.

Citing Sources in Oral Presentations While delivering a speech, you should mention an author and work when you are borrowing words, images, or ideas. If you are creating visual aids or providing a written version of your speech, you should use APA-style in-text citations and references.

Electronic Resource? Look for a DOI. DOI stands for Digital Object Identifier and is used for electronically published content. It is a unique alphanumeric string assigned by a publisher to identify a resource and provide a persistent Internet link. If you use a DOI in a reference, you do not need to include the publisher and location, or “Retrieved from url”. To find a DOI that is not listed for your digital resource, you can search for one using http://www.crossref.org/.

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APA-Style Reference Examples

Here you can see an assortment of examples to help you create correct references for your own writing. You can find more comprehensive guidance in the Publication Manual of the American Psychological Association, 6th Edition. Additional resources can be found at their website, http://www.apastyle.org/. Textbooks for some courses may also contain helpful information about writing according to APA style.

What is meant by “sentence case”? Sentence case means that the only words capitalized are the first word of a title and the first word following a colon (:) or em dash (—); terminal punctuation such as a period (.) or question mark (?); as well as any proper nouns. You may be accustomed to capitalizing all of the key words in a title (title case), but when formatting references in APA style, book titles and the titles of journal articles are written in sentence case. Notice that the names of journals and magazines remain in title case.

Electronic Books (e-Books)

Kleinig, J. (2008). Ethics and criminal justice: An introduction.

(Year of publication).

When available, a DOI (Digital Object Identifier) is used. A DOI eliminates the need for publisher information or to write “Retrieved from url.” Use lower case (doi:) in your reference.

Author’s last name, First initial.

doi: 10.1017/CB09780511806155

Title of book in italics with sentence casing.

e-Text with two authors, an edition number, and accessed through VitalSource Bookshelf This is typical for most digital textbooks used in the online classroom.

Hult, C. A., & Huckin, T. N. (2011). The new century handbook (5th ed.) [VitalSource

Bookshelf version]. Retrieved from http://online.vitalsource.com

e-Text with a single author and no DOI available

Weinberg, M. (2002). A short history of American capitalism. Retrieved from

http://newhistory.org

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Books (print)

Geoghan, D. (2012). Introductory: Visualizing technology.

Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

City of publisher,

(Year of publication).

Title of book in italics with sentence casing.

Abbreviated state (or country if out of U.S.) of publisher:

Publisher.

Author’s last name, First initial.

Book with a single author

Geoghan, D. (2012). Introductory: Visualizing technology. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson.

Book with two authors

Grassian, E. S., & Kaplowitz, J. R. (2001). Information literacy instruction: Theory and practice.

New York, NY: Neal-Schuman.

Book with edition number

Fordney, M. T. (2008). Insurance handbook for the medical office (10th ed.). St. Louis, MO:

Saunders Elsevier.

Book with three–five authors and edition number The first in-text citation would be (Maimon, Peritz, & Yancey, 2006). After that it would be (Maimon et al., 2006).

Maimon, E. P., Peritz, J. H., & Yancey, K. B. (2009). The McGraw-Hill handbook (2nd ed.).

Boston: McGraw-Hill.

Book with publisher as author The publisher’s name at the end of the reference appears as “Author”.

American Psychological Association. (2010). Publication manual of the American Psychological

Association (6th ed.). Washington DC: Author.

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Edited book with revised edition

Partington, A. (Ed.). (1996). The Oxford dictionary of quotations (Rev. 4th ed.). New York, NY:

Oxford University Press.

Chapter or article in an edited book or collection of works (Note: pages included in book references are only used for edited compilations or reference books.)

Driscoll, M. P. (1995). Paradigms for research in instructional systems. In G. J. Anglin (Ed.),

Instructional technology: Past, present, and future (pp. 322–329). Englewood, CO:

Libraries Unlimited.

Chapter from edited book Pages included in book references are only used for edited compilations or reference books.

Passerini, K., & Granger, M. J. (1999). Integration of instructional approaches through media

combination in an undergraduate information systems course. In L. Lloyd (Ed.), Teaching

with technology: Rethinking tradition (pp. 307–322). Medford, NJ: Information Today.

Reprinted work in an anthology The in-text citation for this double-dated reference would be (Anderson, 2010/2014)

Anderson, M. (2014). Your DNA decoded. In K. L. Freiberg (Ed.), Annual Editions: Human

Development 13/14 (42nd ed., pp. 3–6). [VitalSource bookshelf version]. Retrieved from

http://store.vitalsource.com (Reprinted from Sky Magazine, August 2010)

Instructor’s edition

Dempsey, J. S., & Forst, L. S. (2011). Police [Instructor edition]. Clifton Park, NY: Delmar

Cengage Learning.

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Articles in Journals and Magazines (Online)

Heath, J. (2007). An adversarial ethic for business: Or when Sun-Tzu met the stakeholder.

Journal of Business Ethics, 72(4), 359–374. doi:10.1007/s10551-006-9175-5

(Year of publication).

Author’s last name, First initial.

Volume # In italics

(Issue #), Page range of printed article.

Name of Journal in italics,

Title of article with sentence casing.

DOI:

Article with DOI (Digital Object Identifier)

Heath, J. (2007). An adversarial ethic for business: Or when Sun-Tzu met the stakeholder.

Journal of Business Ethics, 72(4), 359–374. doi:10.1007/s10551-006-9175-5

Article with no DOI using url

Carlson, S. (2002). Wired to the hilt: Saint Joseph’s University stakes its future on a $30-million

bet. The Chronicle of Higher Education, 48(29). Retrieved from http://chronicle.com

Press Release from a database with publisher as author When a database is used in an online library search, include the home page for the source rather than a database such as ProQuest.

Fiskar Brands, Inc. (2005, December 6). Fiskar acquires Cloud 9 Design and Heidi Grace

Designs [Press release]. Retrieved from PR Newswire: http://www.prnewswire.com

When to use [brackets] If it is not clear what type of resource is being referenced, you can clarify it using brackets following the title as in the example above.

Article with three to five authors and a DOI

Vlad, I., Sallot, L. M., & Reber, B. H. (2006). Rectification without assuming responsibility:

Testing the transgression flowchart with Vioxx recall. Journal of Public Relations

Research, 18(4), 357–379. doi:10.1207/s1532754xjprr1804_4

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Article without a byline (author) The title moves into the author position.

Creating excellent citation helpers. (2014, May). ID Journal. Retrieved from http://www.IDJ.net

Article with Anonymous author “Anonymous” is only used when it is specifically listed as the author, not when there is no byline included.

Anonymous. (2013). Death preoccupies America. America’s Civil War, 26(5), 9. Retrieved from

http://www.historynet.com

Article with three to five authors and a DOI

Vlad, I., Sallot, L. M., & Reber, B. H. (2006). Rectification without assuming responsibility:

Testing the transgression flowchart with Vioxx recall. Journal of Public Relations

Research, 18(4), 357–379. doi:10.1207/s1532754xjprr1804_4

Articles in Journals and Magazines (Print) Applies to paper versions of magazines or journals. Use DOIs if they are listed with articles.

Article with two authors Use “&” between them.

Barron, A. E., & Kysilka, M. L. (1993). The effectiveness of digital audio in computer-based

training. Journal of Research on Computing in Education, 25(3), 277–289.

Article with more than seven authors For the reference, include the first six and…the last author . (Include the ellipses …) In-text citation would be (Kessler et al., 2006).

Kessler, R. C., Adler, L., Barkley, R., Biederman, J., Conners, C. K., Demler. O., . . . Walters, E.

E. (2006). The prevalence and correlates of Adult ADHD in the United States: Results

from the National Comorbidity Survey Replication. American Journal of Psychiatry,

163(4), 716.

Article in monthly publication

Hochmuth, P. (2002, April). E-learning goes to the head of the class: Higher education IT shops

grapple with multimedia apps. Network World, 25–26.

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Article with colon in title Use sentence case.

Aarntzen, D. (1993). Audio in courseware: Design knowledge issues. Educational Training and

Technology International, 30(4), 354–366.

Web Articles

This section is important because you may be asked to research articles related to current events, using a general web search (non-library based).

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References

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2011). Motor vehicle safety.

Retrieved from http://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/index.htm

paragraph number is used for the in-text citation.

In this quotation example from a web article, notice that since there are no page numbers, the

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (2011), “We focus on improving car and booster seat and seat belt use and reducing impaired driving, and helping groups at risk: child passengers, teen drivers, and older adult drivers” (para. 2).

What if there is no date associated with a resource? Use (n.d.) where you would normally put a date in parentheses for the in-text citation as well as the reference.

Citing an Entity/Organization web article (no author)

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. (2011). Motor vehicle safety. Retrieved from

http://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/index.htm

Citing web articles (no author)

NZ measles outbreak spreads. (2011). Retrieved from

http://news.ninemsn.com.au/health/8283331/australian-girl-dies-in-us-car-crash

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Article from a college resource website

Pearce, H. (2002). How audio helps learning. Retrieved from Camosun College, Distributed

Education website: http://disted.camosun.bc.ca/audio/audio.htm

Online Course Content (for quoting and paraphrasing content from online lectures in courses)

Argosy University Online. (2014). Module 4: Considering the opposition. In ENG101:

Composition I [Online course]. Retrieved from myeclassonline.com

(Year course attended). Institution. Title of lecture page in sentence casing.

url for course contentUse [brackets] to specify type of content.

Course Code: in italics

Name of course in italics.

You must introduce the source of the information you are quoting or paraphrasing as being from an Argosy University Online (AUO) course, then you can use “AUO” in parentheses. After the source of the content has been introduced as being from an Argosy University Online (AUO) course, the associated in- text citation would look like this, (AUO, 2014).

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Dissertations

Published dissertation retrieved through database

Berkelaar, B. L. (2010). Cyber-vetting: Exploring the implications of online information for

career capital and human capital decisions. (Doctoral dissertation, Purdue University).

Retrieved from Proquest Dissertations and Theses database. (UMI No. AAT 3444477)

Published dissertation abstract found in a collection

Bertrand-Hines, T. A. (2001). Learning styles and preferred instructional technologies of

students at a distance. (Doctoral dissertation, The University of New Mexico). Dissertation

Abstracts International, 61(07), 2552. (UMI No. AAT 9977769)

Unpublished dissertation

Nalepa, L. (2001). Development of a strategic technology plan for American Intercontinental

University. (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Nova Southeastern University, Ft.

Lauderdale, FL.

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Papers Presented at Conferences

Presented paper with DOI

Deckers, J. (2011). Could some people be wronged by contracting swine flu? A case discussion

on the links between the farm animal sector and human disease. Paper presented at the

International Swine Flu Conference, London, England. doi:10.1136/jme.2010.0400789

Presented paper without identifier

Kerr, B. (1999, March). Effective use of audio media in multimedia presentations. Paper

presented at the 4th Annual Mid-South Instructional Technology Conference,

Murfreesboro, TN.

Reports

Government report

Congress of the United States, Congressional Budget Office. (2013). Choices for deficit

reduction: An update (CBO Publication No. 44521). Retrieved from

http://www.cbo.gov/publication/44521

Report submitted for an assignment

Nalepa, L. (2000). Evaluation of a multimedia software package for use at American

Intercontinental University. [Practicum Report]. Ft. Lauderdale, FL: Nova Southeastern

University.

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Report published and retrieved from a database The home page of the database is used only when the archival source for the resource cannot be found elsewhere.

Saba, F. (1999). Software systems in distance teaching and learning. Distance Education Report,

3(7), 1–2. Retrieved from http://eric.ed.gov

Report with publisher as author

American Library Association. (1989). Presidential Committee on Information Literacy: Final

report. Chicago, IL: Author.

Presentations

Presentation with organization as author, no date, with url

University of Pittsburgh, Faculty Development Services. (n.d.). Instructional considerations for

using presentation software [PowerPoint Presentation]. Retrieved from

http://www.pitt.edu/~ciddeweb/FACULTY-DEVELPOMENT/FDS/Presentation/

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Citing and Referencing Sacred and Classical Works

Classics are works that are hundreds or even thousands of years old, although there is no set definition for what makes a classic. For some, we may have the date of their original publication, while for others, we may only have the dates of later copies or translations. Here the classic epic poem, The Divine Comedy, is cited in the normal APA style as any other book.

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References

Alighieri, D. (1321). The divine comedy: The inferno, the purgatorio, and the paradiso. (J. Ciardi, Trans.). New York, NY: New American Library.

from which the quotation is taken (1954). The reference also includes the name of the translator (J. Ciardi).

Note that the citation contains the known date of the first publication in Italian (1321) and the date of the translation

Consider the following quotation in both a literal and figurative sense: “Midway in our life’s journey I went astray from the straight road and woke to find myself alone in a dark wood (Alighieri, 1321/1954, p. 5).

Since The Divine Comedy is a classic with standard line numbering, however, it can also be cited without a reference on the References page.

Consider the following quotation from The Divine Comedy in both a literal and figurative sense: “Midway in our life’s journey I went astray from the straight road and woke to find myself alone in a dark wood” (Alighieri, 1321/ J. Ciardi, 1954, Inferno, I:1–3).

The 3-part epic poem is introduced.

The author and original date of publication are included.

Translator Canto I: Stanzas 1-3Date of translation

Title of Part I

How should book titles be written? When you are referring to book titles in your writing, they should generally appear in italics as in The Divine Comedy. Sacred texts, such as the Bible and the Qur’an, are not put in italics.

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Classical ancient Greek and Roman works or religious texts, such as the Torah, Bible, and the Qur’an, often use a standard numbering system used in all translations. Works with standard numbering, when properly cited, do not need to be listed on the References page.

Callimachus was an ancient Greek who authored a work called Hymns and Epigrams in the 3rd Century BCE. Note the numbering used in the in-text citation in the example below ( 1.1.1.). In the numbering system for this book, the first number 1 lets us know it is a Hymn (Epigrams are 2). The second 1 refers to the Hymn number. In this case it is Hymn 1 to Zeus. The third 1 identifies the first line of the hymn.

Hymn I to Zeus begins, “At libations to Zeus what else should rather be sung than the god himself,” (Callimachus, Hymns and Epigrams 1.1.1, Loeb Classics Library).

The first citation includes the text version (Loeb Classics Library).

“Hail! greatly hail! most high Son of Cronus, giver of good things, giver of safety” (Callimachus, Hymns and Epigrams 1.1.90).

Subsequent citations from the same translation only need the author, work, and location.

Hymn I to Zeus begins, “At libations to Zeus what else should rather be sung than the god himself,” (Callimachus, Hymns and Epigrams 1.1.1, trans. 1921).

Alternatively, the date of the translation can be used.

Citing the Bible

When citing from the Bible, it is necessary to include the translation you are using. You only need to include the translation the first time a citation is used unless you later quote from a different translation.

A Bible paraphrase cited in a signal phrase with translation at the end of a sentence.

The Apostle Paul reminds us in 1 Cor. 13:1 that we could be eloquent, multilingual orators and even have the gift of tongues, but without love in our hearts we do nothing more than create noise (Revised Standard Version).

Paul’s letter to the church in Corinth emphasizes that good works mean nothing if not motivated by love: “If I give away all I have, and if I deliver my body to be burned, but have not love, I gain nothing” (1 Cor. 13:3).

Subsequent citations from the same translation do not include the translation

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Citing the Qur’an

The Qur’an paraphrased and cited at the end of a sentence.

Followers of Islam are restricted from eating pork (Qur’an 5:3).

The Qur’an 5:3 lists food that is restricted, such as "the flesh of swine." The Qur’an cited in a signal phrase.

Again, works with standard numbering, such as the Bible and Qur’an, do not need to be listed on the References page.

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Frequently Asked Questions

What is meant by “sentence case”?

Sentence case means that the only words capitalized are the first word of a title and the first word

following a colon (:) or em dash (—); terminal punctuation such as a period (.) or question mark (?); as well as any proper nouns. You may be accustomed to capitalizing all of the key words in a title (title

case), but when formatting references in APA style, book titles and the titles of journal articles are written in sentence case. Notice that the names of journals and magazines remain in title case.

What is a DOI?

DOI stands for Digital Object Identifier and is used for electronically published content. It is a unique alphanumeric string assigned by a publisher to identify a resource and provide a persistent Internet link. If you use a DOI in a reference, you do not need to include the publisher and location, or “Retrieved from url”. To find a DOI that is not listed for your digital resource, you can search for one using http://www.crossref.org/.

When should I use [brackets] in a reference?

If it is not clear what type of resource is being referenced, you can clarify it using brackets. For example: [Online course], or [Press release], or [Pamphlet]. Always capitalize the first word.

What if there is no date associated with a resource?

Use (n.d.) where you would normally put a date in parentheses for the in-text citation as well as the reference.

How should book titles be written in the body of my paper?

When you are referring to book titles in your writing, they should generally appear in italics as in The Divine Comedy. Sacred texts, such as the Bible and the Qur’an, are not put in italics.